Rising of a Mage: Book 02 - Gods and Magic Read online

  Gods

  and

  Magic

  © 2013 by J.M. Fosberg

  All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or distributed by any means without prior permission in writing from the author.

  Dedication:

  I dedicate this book to my mother, Sheryl Fosberg. Thank you for all the motivation and support. I love you.

  Special Thanks:

  Special thanks to Kathleen Lambert for the cover art.

  I would also like to thank Sheryl Fosberg and Jeff Sargent for editing Gods and Magic.

  Finally I want to thank Jodie Young @ www.rooftopcopy.com for formatting Gods and Magic for the e-book.

  Books by J.M. Fosberg

  Rising of a Mage Trilogy

  Rising of a Mage

  Gods and Magic

  A Mage Risen

  (Estimated release summer 2013)

  The Half Dwarf Prince Series

  The Half Dwarf Prince

  (Estimated winter 2013)

  Table of Contents

  PROLOGUE

  CHAPTER ONE

  Naveah and Rundo

  CHAPTER TWO

  The Paladin of Kalime

  CHAPTER THREE

  Thousands of Orcs

  CHAPTER FOUR

  In the Path of Miskrull

  CHAPTER FIVE

  Delvidge

  CHAPTER SIX

  Istan

  CHAPTER SEVEN

  The Dwarves

  CHAPTER EIGHT

  Homecoming

  CHAPTER NINE

  Preparations

  CHAPTER TEN

  Miskrull's Arrival

  CHAPTER ELEVEN

  Aftermath

  CHAPTER TWELVE

  Steel Hands and Stone Walls

  CHAPTER THIRTEEN

  The Ring

  CHAPTER FOURTEEN

  The Hand and the Halls

  CHAPTER FIFTEEN

  Post Celebration

  CHAPTER SIXTEEN

  Wedding Preparations

  CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

  Invitations

  CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

  A Day of Memory

  CHAPTER NINETEEN

  Leaving Kampar

  CHAPTER TWENTY

  Back in Evermount

  CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE

  The Wedding

  CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO

  Gods and Magic

  EPILOGUE

  PROLOGUE

  Delvidge, the God of Chaos, watched in anticipation, as his creature, Miskrull, bored his way through the stone of the underdark. Making his way toward the dwarven kingdom of Shinestone. With its short little legs, tucked against its powerful serpent body, it ate through the stone with its huge worm-like head and teeth, the size of a dwarven leg. Miskrull is a single-minded creature of destruction. After the last six thousand years, trapped in the planes of hell, Delvidge has released him. He seeks only to feed his hunger for living flesh and to revel in the destruction of the mortal plane. He has a special kind of hatred for the dwarves, and there were few things Delvidge enjoyed more than watching, as Miskrull acted on that hatred.

  Gorgon Hammer-hand was alone in the smith. After weeks of tedious work, the great war hammer was nearly complete. He had been hired by the High King Grindel Stoneheart of the dwarven kingdom of Evermount. To be the creator of the personal weapon of the high king of the dwarven kingdoms was verification to all dwarves that Gorgon was the greatest smith of his age. The head and shaft of the hammer were made of the highest quality of steel. Shinestone proudly and unarguably boasted that their steel was the finest. The shaft was inlaid with finely cut and polished diamonds. Gorgon had only to finish the engraving of the head of the hammer, and the magnificent weapon would be complete. As he stood over the weapon with his hammer and chisel, tediously perfecting every detail, the ground began to quake. A dozen paces away, rock crumbled and disappeared into the mountain. A huge-scaled serpent-like head began to protrude from the hole. Gorgon, smith hammer in hand, charged the beast, bringing his hammer down toward the beast’s head. The huge serpent’s mouth opened, showing four rows of teeth. Gorgon's hammer came down, just above the beast’s mouth, and shattered. Gorgon fell away, arms throbbing in pain from the vibration of contact. Gorgon was no warrior, but he was a dwarf. He ran to his workstation, as the huge monster continued to pour its long body out of the hole. Gorgon picked up his anvil. Straining to lift it over his head, he threw it at the monster. The anvil bounced off the beast’s head harmlessly. Gorgon picked up the high king’s hammer. As the monster opened its mouth to twice the height of Gorgon, he leapt into the air, bringing the hammer down with all of his might. The hammer made contact, just as the huge monster was closing its mouth down on him. The impact was followed with a cracking sound. Gorgon fell away to the ground, as the huge head wretched away in pain.

  The huge tooth broke away, shooting a shockwave of pain through Miskrull's entire body. He threw his head forward, blindly slamming into the smaller helpless Gorgon, sending him flying into a nearby wall.

  In a rage, Miskrull tore through the dwarven kingdom. He devoured every last creature. Miskrull had been to the mortal plane dozens of time over the millennia. Each time, he had torn through the ground and across the surface. Each time, the mortals had thrown at him there champions, and each time, he left the world in chaos and destruction. Never had he been injured, and now this miniature mortal had taken a tooth, which could plow through stone. This trip to the mortal plane had just become personal, and the rest of it would pay for this puny dwarf’s actions.

  Gorgon awoke, buried under a pile of broken stone. He pushed the rocks away, gathered his breath, and surveyed his surroundings. The smith was destroyed. Nothing remained intact. Fear filled Gorgon’s heart when he saw the path of destruction, leading to the heart of Shinestone. He found the hammer he had made for the high king. He picked it up. Before he took off down the tunnel, in the direction the monster had taken, something caught his attention. Stone and gravel began to move and stack on top of each other. Gorgon readied the axe in his hands, as he watched the rock materialize into the form of a dwarf. No not a dwarf, but The Dwarf. Gorgon dropped to one knee and laid the mighty axe on the stone before him. He was kneeling before the materialized form of the Dwaven Father. The Dwarven God, Bordin.

  “They all are gone. There is nothing up there for you to find. The monster, which has destroyed your home, is called Miskrull. You must go to the human city of Ambar. There you will find the dwarf, who calls himself Grizzle. You must tell him what has happened here. The creature, Miskrull, will continue his destruction, destroying human and dwarven kingdoms alike. It is time the dwarf, who calls himself Grizzle, return to his kin. He has powerful companions. He and his companions are the only chance for saving the mortal realm. The kingdoms between here and Evermount are lost. You will lead them to intercept the creature there.”

  Gorgon lifted the hammer and slammed it to his chest in a salute. Stone and gravel fell to the ground, and his God was gone. Emotions, a mix of elation at the physical appearance of his God, and sadness and loss of everyone he had ever known. He gathered what supplies he could and began the long walk to the long leg’s city of Ambar.

  CHAPTER ONE

  Naveah and Rundo

  Navaeh walked through the trees she had spent the last few years with. Her only friends were a gray wolf she called Asser and a hawk she called Messah. The sun was falling below the horizon. Navaeh stood under a great oak and set her staff against it. She knelt down and waved her hands over the ground. The earth at the base of the great tree rose up and formed a pallet three
feet off the ground with a thick layer of grass padding. She thanked Kalise, the Mother of the Land and Great God of the druids, for the bed she had provided. Naveah gathered some small dead branches into a pile a few feet from her pallet. She sat wrapped in her cloak made from the fur of a small brown bear, and stared into the small fire she had lit. Asser lay next to her with his head in her lap and his yellow eyes staring in to the small crackling flame.

  She could sense Messah's approach before she saw the bird land on one of the branches hanging over Navaeh's pallet. She felt the sending of safety from her beloved hawk friend. Messah had not seen any indication of danger as she scouted the area around the camp. Her conversations with her two companions were not in any language of man or animal; she communicated with them through sendings of emotion or mental images. At once she received a sending of caution from both of her friends. Asser was up and between her and her small fire as it began to crackle unnaturally and grow into a larger purple flame.

  The flame rose as Navaeh rose, but it emitted no heat. Navaeh watched as the purple flame shifted into the form of an unimaginably beautiful woman with hair hanging nearly to her ankles. She was covered by only a few large leaves with thin vines wrapping around her body to hold them in place. The rest of her perfectly-toned form was bare. Navaeh was awed by the beauty of what she now knew was her Goddess. She immediately went to her knees and averted her eyes. It was hard not to look as the awe-inspiring beauty was pulling at her. The most amazing sight her eyes would ever lay upon was there in front of her, yet she could not allow them that great gift.

  "Be easy, my child. I have appeared before you in this form so you may see me." Navaeh felt relief followed by excitement and again awe as she raised her eyes to the fiery form of her Goddess. "I have come to you, my loyal and faithful child, to give you a task."

  "I am yours to command, Mother," Navaeh answered, "for the protection of all the living and defense of the defenseless."

  Kalise smiled. "There is a great evil coming to this land, my child. You must leave the protection of this grove. I will guide you to those who will help you defend against this evil creature."

  "As you command, Mother, so I will follow."

  Then the form of her Goddess was gone. The purple flame melted back into the fire and it was again just a small flame that would warm her and her companions. Naveah sent excitement to her companions and they sent back their approval. The Goddess had showed them the path, and they agreed to follow their companion on her quest. Navaeh went to the pallet under the great tree and slept her last night in the great grove she had called home. Messah slept upon a branch in the tree above her, and Asser lay on the ground at the foot of her pallet. The next morning she rose and waved her hands in circles over the pallet to send it back into the ground. When she had returned the area to how it had previously been she headed north and east out of the grove.

  The sun was directly overhead on the third day of her trek through thick woods and over rolling hills when she received a sending from Messah. It was an image in her mind of two bears: one of great size and the other a cub in great pain. Navaeh followed her trusted hawk companion to the scene. In the distance she saw the sight.

  The larger bear was the mother of the smaller and she was standing under the cub, who was hanging upside down at the edge of a small grove of trees. As Navaeh approached the mother turned to her. She dropped down to all fours and growled at the human. Mariah sent help and peace to the huge animal. The bear backed off some and allowed her to approach her cub but remained suspicious and ready to attack. The cub was hanging six feet above the ground with a thin rope digging into its leg. Navaeh sent the image to Messah of her plan, and the hawk understood instantly. She took the small bear's paws in her hands, and Messah went to work at the rope with her beak and talons. She watched as the bird cut through each thread of the rope, and then the bear cub was falling. The mother growled in fright and anger as she saw her cub falling head first toward the ground. Navaeh held the heavy cub's paws high in the air with all her strength.

  The cub's weight caught in her hands as its body righted itself and landed feet first, howling in fright and falling to the ground. Navaeh still held the cub's paws in her hands, and she was dragged down atop the bear as it tumbled to the ground. The huge mother bear was standing over her, ready to attack at any sign of treachery. Naveah simply rolled off of the cub and went to her knees next to it. Again she sent the message of help to the mother bear, then approached the cub's rear leg. The rope had dug deep into the flesh as the cub had struggled to free itself, and was meeting with bone at one point. That bone was all that still held the foot in place. She took hold of the rope and loosened it from the animal. The cub howled in pain as the rope was pulled free of its tender flesh. Once she had the rope free Navaeh slid it over the foot and threw it to the side. She said a prayer to her Goddess and then cast the spell that would seal the wound. The tendons healed and the flesh merged back together. The tissue would remain scarred and no fur would ever again grow around the area, but the leg would now hold the weight of the animal. It would still be some days before the pain was fully gone, however.

  The cub had rolled over and was now standing on all fours, testing the leg. It would walk with a limp for a few days. Navaeh put her head in the side of the cub's neck in a sign of affection and the cub returned it, laying his heavy head on her shoulder. With this Navaeh and her two companions left the two bears and began traveling in the direction her Goddess was guiding her. That night she sat in a low valley, staring into a fire, longing for the sight of her Goddess.

  In the morning, as the sky began to fill with the yellows and oranges of sunrise, Navaeh was already walking. She couldn't help but notice that her direction had been altered this day. She was still traveling north and east but now it was much more eastward, and as the sun came over the horizon its brilliance made her squint. Soon she realized that her Goddess had led her to a road.

  Normally she avoided roads and towns, as people were not often excited at the sight of her grey wolf companion. Druids in general were not looked upon with much favor because people believed that they loved their animals so much that they married them. Although Navae loved her companions, the thought of desiring them was ridiculous to her. Druids ate animal and used their hides and bones for clothing and tools. Navaeh wore leather pants made of the hide of a deer and her bear fur cloak was in the pack on her back. She shared many meals with Asser. She always cooked the meat, while he ate it raw, but there was nothing in her religion that said one could not kill to provide sustenance. She would not kill more than she could eat, however. So she would not kill a deer to feed herself, instead she would wait until she could take a rabbit or squirrel—something just large enough to sustain her. When she took life, she thanked her Goddess for providing for her, and she thanked the animal for its sacrifice and the blessing of life. These were her thoughts when she received the sending of danger from Messah.

  Naveah moved off the road into a large ditch, following Asser as he moved toward the sound of a fight. From her hiding place, Navaeh saw a halfling fending off a dozen trolls. Dagger after dagger flew from his hand, each time returning to his waist as another was released from his hand Navaeh wondered were he could keep them all. Then she was out of the ditch, staff in hand, to help him. Trolls were a manifestation of evil. Their only purpose in life was destruction. The little man's daggers continued to fly, and as she approached she saw that he had felled a number of the large beasts before her arrival. But they were still pressing him hard.

  Rundo the halfling had been riding to Ambar on his small, black-and-gray striped pony named Bumbo. He was nearly two days away when he was ambushed on the road. Twenty trolls were hiding along the road and had all jumped out at once, not expecting the single little halfling to possess the magical daggers that reappeared in their sheaths as they made contact. This served a double purpose. The first and most obvious was that he had what would seem to be a never-ending supply of
daggers. The second was that,, when the dagger returned it left open whatever wound it had made. With no dagger to slow the flow of blood, the open wound bled freely.

  But even with his magical daggers, the halfling knew he was finished. He had put down eight or ten of the beasts already, but his daggers were small, and it took a number of tosses to stop each of the trolls, and they did not stay dead for long. He was trying to fend off nine or ten that were still moving toward him, loosing his daggers as fast as he could, when a big gray wolf leapt through the air, taking the nearest troll to the ground and tearing open its neck. Then a women appeared, and he continued to loose his daggers. As the trolls focused their attention on him and his daggers, she ran behind them, wielding her staff . Each time her staff made contact with one of the monsters, it would burst into flame, howling and screaming and throwing itself to the ground. Rundo had lost focus, though, and one of the beasts was charging him now. He loosed his daggers and they both took the beast in the gut, but it did not slow a step.

  As the monster reached for Rundo, a hawk appeared, raking the beast in the eyes with its claws, and as it stumbled forward, Rundo dove at its legs. The monster fell over him and he jumped on its back, ran his dagger across the beast's throat, and then drove it into the thing's brain for good measure. He turned back to the fight, but all of the trolls were now on the ground, and the woman who must have been some sort of druid was circling, hitting each of them with her staff, igniting them before they could regenerate and return to life. The woman drew toward him and bought her staff down on the troll he had just felled. She smiled at him and then went to finish the others. The wolf got too close to Bumbo and he tried to run, but the woman was soon there, soothing him. She looked into Bumbo's eyes and he calmed down. Oh yes, she was definitely some sort of druid.